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Natrix
Genus of snakes

Natrix is a genus of Old World snakes found mainly across Eurasia (although the range of Natrix tessellata extends into Egypt and those of N. astreptophora and N. maura into north-west Africa) in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. They are commonly called grass snakes and water snakes, but some other snake species also known commonly as "grass snakes" and "water snakes" are not in the genus.

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Species

The genus Natrix contains five extant species1 and at least five extinct (fossil-only) species.

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Natrix astreptophora (Seoane, 1885)Iberian grass snake2Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), southern France, coastal north-west Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia)
Natrix helvetica (Lacépède, 1789)barred grass snake3Western Europe, including southern Great Britain
Natrix maura (Linnaeus, 1758)viperine water snake4Portugal, Spain, France, north-west Italy and into Switzerland; north-west Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia)
Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758)grass snake5Mainland Europe from mid Scandinavia to southern Italy, to northern Middle East and Central Asia
Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768)dice snake6Much of Eurasia, and Egypt
†Natrix longivertebrata (Szyndlar, 1984)extinct species (Pliocene, Miocene)Poland, Austria, France7
†Natrix merkurensis Ivanov, 2002extinct species (Miocene)8Czech Republic, France9
†Natrix mlynarskii Rage, 1988extinct species (Eocene–Miocene)France10
†Natrix parva Szyndlar, 1984extinct species (Miocene)Poland11
†Natrix sansaniensis (Lartet, 1851)extinct species (Miocene)12Czech Republic, France

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Natrix.

Etymology

Natrix is classical Latin for a water snake. The word comes from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "snake", with cognates in the Celtic and Germanic languages, the latter including the English adder. It was probably influenced through folk etymology by the Latin nare and natare meaning "swim";1314 it appears to be a grammatically feminine word for "swimmer".

Geography

The refuge of a widely distributed Western European lineage regarding the barred grass snake commonly known as Natrix helvetica was most likely located in southern France and outside the classical refuges in the southern European peninsulas. One genetic lineage of the common grass snake (N. natrix) is also distributed in Scandinavia, Central Europe, and the Balkan Peninsula.15

Further reading

  • Laurenti JN (1768). Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austriacorum. Vienna: "Joan. Thom. Nob. de Trattnern". 214 pp. + Plates I-V. (Natrix, new genus, p. 73). (in Latin).

References

  1. Genus Natrix at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Natrix&exact=genus&submit=Search ↩

  2. de Lazaro, Enrico (February 23, 2016). "Iberian Grass Snake: Cryptic New Species of Snake Identified". Sci-News.com. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/iberian-grass-snake-natrix-astreptophora-cryptic-new-species-03650.html ↩

  3. "New snake species identified in the UK". BBC News. 7 August 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40853286 ↩

  4. "Natrix Laurenti, 1768". Encyclopedia of Life. http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview ↩

  5. "Natrix Laurenti, 1768". Encyclopedia of Life. http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview ↩

  6. "Natrix Laurenti, 1768". Encyclopedia of Life. http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview http://eol.org/pages/35261/overview ↩

  7. Rage, JC; Szyndlar, Z (1986). "Natrix longivertebrata from the European Neogene, a snake with one of the longest known stratigraphic ranges". N. Jb. Geol. Palaonth. Mh. 1986 (1). Stuttgart: 56–64. Retrieved 15 September 2022. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281589987 ↩

  8. Ivanov, Martin (2002). "The oldest known Miocene snake fauna from Central Europe: Merkur-North locality, Czech Republic". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 47 (3): 513–534. Retrieved 16 September 2022. https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app47-513.html ↩

  9. "†Natrix merkurensis Ivanov 2002 (water snake)". Fossilworks. n.d. Retrieved 16 September 2022. https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=251199 ↩

  10. "†Natrix mlynarskii Rage 1988 (water snake)". Fossilworks. n.d. Retrieved 16 September 2022. https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=346184 ↩

  11. "†Natrix parva Szyndlar 1984 (water snake)". Fossilworks. n.d. Retrieved 16 September 2022. https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=64954 ↩

  12. Ivanov, Martin (2002). "The oldest known Miocene snake fauna from Central Europe: Merkur-North locality, Czech Republic". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 47 (3): 513–534. Retrieved 16 September 2022. https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app47-513.html ↩

  13. "adder, n.1". OED Online. Oxford University Press. March 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/2166?rskey=HXKdWQ&result=1&isAdvanced=false ↩

  14. "adder". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 6 May 2019. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=adder ↩

  15. Kindler, Carolin; Graciá, Eva; Fritz, Uwe (29 January 2018). "Extra-Mediterranean glacial refuges in barred and common grass snakes (Natrix helvetica , N. natrix)". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 1821. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.1821K. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20218-2. PMC 5788984. PMID 29379101. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5788984 ↩